Anyone been on KY or Barkley lately?

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you guys have been out on KY or Barkley lately? I've got a 2 day team classic going out of Kuttawa next weekend the 24 and 25. I'm wondering if any of you that fish the lakes a lot could give me some insight to what's going on right now or any good advice to try right now. If one lake is producing better than the other right now or anything like that. Any and all help would be appreciated. I can do pretty good down there when the fish are in the bushes in the spring but with the lake still at winter pool I don't see that being an option. Other than when their shallow I really struggle down there. Its not the style fishing I'm used to so I'd really appreciate any pointers you could give out.

Thanks a lot
Chad

Check out these reports. Dave just reported 2 days ago as well. Good Luck. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif

http://www.bbcboards.net...age=2

Thanks, I hadn't read those reports yet.

I was there on the 7th. Had 4 keepers with one about 5.5 lbs and one over 3 all on suspending Jerkbait on Ky Lake. I did not get a sniff on the main lake. All of my fish came out of Vickers Bay. Caught all of them in about 40 minutes. Steve

Dang Steven its either feast or famine.

Either you found the honey hole or they strapped on the feed bags. Either way I love it when they smack the jerkbait. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/USA1.gif

Chad...Eric is right...check out Dave's reports...I am pretty sure he does them on Thursday nights (maybe Wednesday) but they will eliminate alot of water and he lists a bunch of different baits that are catching them...good luck and let us know how you do....I will be on the big ponds twice in April....gotta love that.

Buck

I can finally get my boat out of the garage now and I will be on Ky lake the next 3 days. I'll post how I do. I have a tourney sat. If I don't slay them, I will probably try to put some crappie in the freezer Sun. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif

Thanks for the info. I went down there today and put in at Kuttawa on Barkley. I wanted to fish main lake points and channel banks out there like I do over on KY lake and see what happens. That lake was rolling today with all that wind. Just couldn't fish it very well. I did manage to get a smallie about 3 lb. and a 16 inch LM out there along with several shorts. Finaly the wind was so bad I couldn't keep the trolling motor in the water and the waves were getting big enough they were starting to come over the front deck and I said to heck with this and went and fished some secondary stuff in some of the coves. Caught 2 more keeper LM doing that with one of them close but not quite 3 lb and another just barely a keeper along with several other shorts. The main lake fish all come off a crankbait and the cove fish come on a jig. Wasn't to bad of a day all in all, could have been worse. If it wasn't for the wind I think I could have really caught them in some of the main lake places I fished. Just couldn't control the boat out there today. That was the roughest I've ever seen Barkley, seen KY lake worse than that several times but never been on Barkley with it that bad. That's a dangerous lake at winter pool too. I about messed up a couple times. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/eek.gif

I think the rest of my practice days I'm going to spend over on KY. I know it a lot better and have a lot more spots for early in the year over there. I just hope the wind doesn't get up during the tournament. I like to fish down below Aurora and that's a pretty good haul from Kattawa. If the lakes are turned upside down that could be bad. I think I'll search for some new spots on KY more toward the north end where its closer and check my spots below aurora first. I know those fish will be there. But I definantly want to put something together closer to Kuttawa just in case the wind is really bad. Never know what it will do this time of year. I'll try to keep you guys posted with everything going on while I'm there. If anyone hears any thing good that might help me then please let me know. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/praying.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/smile.gif

Thanks for all the info guys.

Chad how many boats will you all have? We have a BFL going out of Ky dam the 25th

I have not heard an exact number on how many boats will show. There is at least 200 that are qualified to go but I'm gonna guess only 100 or maybe 150 will actually go. We were originally scheduled to go out of KY Dam marina also along with the BFL. They ended up changing us over to Katawa for our take off. Saturday will be a busy day on the water. It sucks them being on the same day, I really wanted to fish the KY lake division BFL's this year. The IL division sucks as far as the fishing goes. I wanted to come down there where you can actually catch a bunch of fish. Guess I'll have to fish the IL division now. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthdown.gif I can't believe they scheduled them the same weekend. Have to take a number to fish some places.

Even 100 will change my plans, thanks for the heads up http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif Usually the first LBL wil draw around 205 boats, it will be a busy day http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/smile.gif

I was on N. Barkley too yesterday...it was rough but believe me when I say it can get a lot rougher than that. You are on the pattern...crankbaits and jerkbaits for sure.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dave Stewart &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was on N. Barkley too yesterday...it was rough but believe me when I say it can get a lot rougher than that. You are on the pattern...crankbaits and jerkbaits for sure.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Thats what I saw south of the highway 80 bridge on KY today also.

I guess I've been lucky when I've been on Barkley in the past as far as the wind goes. I've been on KY when I'd go down in a wave and couldn't see anything except water around me. That's pretty scary there. But every time I've been on Barkley I've always had pretty good conditions. What made Barkley so bad yesterday was the way that channel runs on that thing back and forth from side to side half the time you were having to run with the waves coming from the sides in stead of running either with them or against them. And I don't know the lake well enough to not run the channel with it at winter pool.

With 200+ boats in that BFL that is going to affect me Sat. also. I know a bunch of them will be down around my area's I fish on KY. I'm going to have to think through my game plan for Sat a little more. I think I'll be alright fishing KY Friday but I don't know about Saturday now. I might should go look for something on South Barkley for Saturday.

The bite was a lot tougher for me yesterday. I caught a few fish on a jerk bait but none would keep. I finally caught a keeper on a jig about 30 min before weigh in must have been tough for everybody. None of the 14 boats in the club had over 3 fish and 4 had none. I saw Troy ("Tunderwood" on here) and he was having a slow day too. He had caught a keeper early on a rattletrap. I may go back out this afternoon. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif I'm a glutton for punishment. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/embarassed.gif

I think with this cold front the fishing is going to get a lot tougher for at least a few days. I've decided to wait and go down tomorrow now just because of the weather. We've been having all this nice weather and now we get this cold and rain the week of the tournament. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/mad.gif

That is what I figured would happen though. Never fails, a spring tx and the weather will turn back cold.

Might work out better tho, my spots over on KY have always produced best in cold conditions. I just hate having to dress for winter to go fishing.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Roddyrude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The bite was a lot tougher for me yesterday. I caught a few fish on a jerk bait but none would keep. I finally caught a keeper on a jig about 30 min before weigh in must have been tough for everybody. None of the 14 boats in the club had over 3 fish and 4 had none. I saw Troy ("Tunderwood" on here) and he was having a slow day too. He had caught a keeper early on a rattletrap. I may go back out this afternoon. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif I'm a glutton for punishment. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/embarassed.gif </TD></TR></TABLE>

I finaly got on a jerkbait bite later in the day. I boated 3 and should of had 2 more but impatience got the best of me and lost 2 decient fish. 4 on a jerk bait and the 1 early on a trap.

I just hope they don't get beat up too bad Sat. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/praying.gif

Was down there on the 11th and 12th, had a pretty good go of it. Got on a late A.M. jerkbait bite, suspending Rogues, (Mark Menendez series), chartruese and purple worked good in dirty water, near rip rap (KY Dam Marina entrance,(windblown sides!!)) and I think its Tenn. Shad color in the clearer water, I was giving it 3 or 4 hard rips, and they'd kill it on the pause, could almost time it. If you weren't paying attention they'd rip the rod out of your hands!! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif Most fish were caught in 4-7' of water. I did post a report on the KY Lake forum. Water temps were 49-52. Good luck, hope this helps ya out. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif Hint: Higgins and Sugar Bays.